Texana Thursday: The Santa Anna Capture Site

The historical marker at the Santa Anna Capture Site (Creative Commons license attribution: photo courtesy Roy Luck)

Many Texas historical sites—the Alamo, for example—also serve as popular tourist attractions. They are there for your viewing, enjoyment, and reflection.

Nobody would mistake the Santa Anna Capture Site as a tourist attraction. But its importance to Texas, and the United States, is significant.

Many Texans know the story: Texas was fighting for its independence from Mexico. Both the Alamo and the Presidio La Bahia at Goliad had fallen, the defenders massacred by the Mexican Army under Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

This happened in March-April 1836. The Texas Army, under General Sam Houston, had retreated to the east, towards the Sabine River. Not all Texans liked this idea, preferring a direct confrontation with the Mexicans. Houston, however, realized the importance of timing in battle. The Texans didn’t have the numbers and he had to wait until the time was right.

The timing was right on Thursday, April 21. In a surprise attack that lasted 18 minutes, the Texas Army routed the Mexican Army at San Jacinto, east of the present-day city of Houston.

According to Houston’s official report, the Mexicans suffered 630 killed and 730 taken prisoner. Nine Texans were killed and 30 wounded. Houston was among those wounded. He was shot in the leg.

Today, the San Jacinto Battleground is a state historical park and the battle is reenacted every April 21. The second Battleship Texas was ultimately moored there. Small markers can be seen around the park, showing where various scenes (Houston being wounded, for example) occurred.

So what happened to Santa Anna?

He fled.

The Surrender of Santa Anna by William Henry Huddle (1890). Deaf Smith cups his ear, on right.

The Texans organized search parties. One such party found him hiding in the grass at a site approximately 10 miles west of the battleground. They didn’t know who they captured, however. Santa Anna was dressed as a common private, not as the Napoleon of the West, as he referred to himself.

The search party brought its prisoner back to the battleground. The other Mexican soldiers immediately recognized him, exclaiming, “El Presidente!”

Santa Anna was brought to Houston, as portrayed in the famous portrait The Surrender of Santa Anna by William Henry Huddle (1890), which today hangs in the south foyer of the state Capitol in Austin. There the work began to create and sign the Treaty of Velasco, which gave Texas its independence.

Today the capture site has a stone marker to commemorate the event. It is visible from the Houston Ship Channel or if driving north on Federal Road through Pasadena, right before you enter the Washburn Tunnel. There is a small park area in which you can leave your car and walk around. It gives a good view of the ship channel and all the oil tanks along it.

It’s a far cry from what Santa Anna saw in 1836. Yet without the battle, without Santa Anna’s capture, we’d be living in a very different Texas today.